


The Start of Something New

by bellamouse16



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Flirting, Fluffy, Kissing, M/M, mention of Canada Worlds junior team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellamouse16/pseuds/bellamouse16
Summary: Pierre and Anthony spent most of the offseason together.  Will one drunken kiss turn their relationship from friends to something more?





	The Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amaura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaura/gifts).



> Yes, I used a High School Musical song title as the title of this. High School Musical has apparently been influencing my life for 12 years now.
> 
> Truth be told, I only know a little bit about these guys, but I tried to give myself, essentially, a crash course in Pierre-Luc Dubois and Anthony Beauvillier. This doesn’t fully follow the 2018-2019 schedules for the Islanders and the Blue Jackets, so sorry for that, but let’s pretend this all works out logistically.  
> I hope you enjoy this @amaura and happy holidays!

 

To be honest, it had been building up for a while now, this thing between Pierre and Tito.  They’d always been pretty good friends, but between Worlds and Ibiza, they had been spending more time together.  There had been a lot of chirping that slowly felt like it was turning into flirting.  It was fun.  That was, until Pierre and Tito had gone out drinking with a few other guys.  Pierre had gotten drunker than he planned to get.  One moment, he was dancing with Tito, and then next they were kissing in the dim hallway by the restrooms.  It was a bit sloppy and hands were wandering places Pierre had only glanced at during workouts when Tito was shirtless and glistening in sweat.  Sure, Pierre had been drunk, but he remembered it all, that had to count for something.  He remembered the feel of Tito’s abs beneath his shirt and the way his lips felt against his skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps from his lips down to the skin at the collar of his shirt.  The morning after the kiss, Pierre had been nervous to see Tito again. He knew how he felt about Tito, about the tingle that spread through his chest every time he saw him or heard his voice.  The thing was, Pierre had never been that great at reading people and it didn’t help that Tito was a pretty friendly guy.  Pierre didn’t know what to expect when he saw Tito the morning after the drunken kiss, but then it turned out his nerves were for nothing.  Everything was normal the next morning at breakfast.  When Tito didn’t bring up the kiss, Pierre decided he better not bring it up either.  He almost wondered if the kiss had even happened.  The summer continued like it started, with chirps that were a bit too flirty and the occasional lingering touch.    

Right now, Pierre was realizing that being away from Tito was a lot harder than it used to be.  They were only a week into the season and he already missed Tito more than he thought he should.  He knew that damn kiss was to blame.  He didn’t even know what they were at this point, Pierre thought as he texted Tito.  Tito sent him a video of Mat goofing around during conditioning.  He replied with a quick snap of his face, an eyebrow raised comically.  Pierre was about to lock his phone when another Snapchat notification popped up.  He opened it and found himself watching a snap from Tito, although he suspected it was Mat filming.  In the video, Tito was singing along to a song playing in their workout room at their practice rink in Long Island and the dog filter was on Tito’s face, as if he wasn’t cute enough without it.  Pierre knew he shouldn’t, but he held down the message to replay the video and took a screenshot of Tito.  He looked pretty cute and Pierre wished he could respond with that.  Before he could snap him back, someone leaned over from the locker beside Pierre. 

“Who’s got you all smiley?”

He looked up to see Nick giving him a mix of his captain look and a smirk, as if he wanted to act like a team dad while simultaneously screwing with Pierre.  Before Pierre could respond, Seth and Cam came over since they could apparently sense an opportunity to chirp one of their teammates.

“Oooh, does someone have a girlfriend?”

Pierre couldn’t help but blush, trying to ignore them in the hopes they might get distracted and move.  Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work.

“That’s so a yes.”

“Damn, what’s her name? She a smoke show or what?”

Pierre could feel the back of his neck burning.

“Uh, no.  No, I don’t have a girlfriend.  It was just a friend sending me something.  One of the guys from Worlds, you know?”

The guys looked at him unconvinced. Seth spoke up.

“In that case, I guess you’re up to go out tonight then?”

“Yeah, sure,” Pierre responded, hoping if he said yes then the conversation might be over.

“Good.  See you tonight then,” Seth said, slapping Pierre on the shoulder. 

Cam seemed to accept Pierre’s yes and nodded at him, smirking slightly.  It was only Nick who was still hanging around.  He tilted his head as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how.  It took him a moment, but then he responded.

“You know, you don’t have to go out if you don’t want to.”

Pierre just shrugged.  If he didn’t say yes, the guys would just keep asking him questions about a non-existent girlfriend.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell us who you’re dating too, you know.  Whoever they are that messaged you must be pretty special to get a smile like that.”

With that, Nick walked off to go talk to one of the coaches about their last practice, leaving Pierre alone.  He glanced down at his phone to see a text from Tito.

_If you’d wanted a picture, you could have just asked_ _😉_

Pierre could feel himself getting red all over again as he remembered the screenshot.  He couldn’t even come up with a good response, so he just locked his phone, hoping he might be able to think of something on his drive home. 

\----------

Going out with the guys wasn’t the best plan Pierre ever agreed to.  They spent the entire night trying to get Pierre to pick up.  It was only after Tito called him to Facetime and he pretended it had been his mother that the guys let up and allowed him to leave the bar.  He’d shot Tito a quick text that he was heading home and would call him back, and then he made his escape, saying a few quick goodbyes before heading out.  Now, he was comfy in bed with the blanket laying lowly at his hips.  His phone was balancing on a pillow beside him, and he was laying on another pillow with his head tilted towards his phone, so he could see Tito.  It looked like Tito was also in bed, although unlike Pierre, he had a shirt on.  It looked soft and worn out.  Tito had just finished telling Pierre about his day and asked him how his night with the guys had gone.  Pierre grimaced a bit.

“They spent the night trying to get me to leave with girls,” he said with a bit of a laugh, but it died out when he noticed Tito wasn’t laughing.  “Hey, Tito.  You good?”

“Huh, oh yeah.  Yeah, of course.  So, why are you talking to me when you could be out?”

Pierre shrugged his shoulders and bit his lip.  This could be his shot to see how Tito felt about him. 

“Maybe I wanted to talk to you,” Pierre said a bit flirtier than he might normally sound. 

It seemed to work.  Tito’s cheeks got a bit pink and he cleared his throat, eyes wandering away from the phone before landing back on Pierre, more shyly than before.

“Really?”

“Well… yeah, Tito,” Pierre said a bit softer.  “I’ll always want to talk to you over anyone else.”

There was a moment of silence on either end of the Facetime call.  Pierre was starting to worry if he’d maybe read the entire situation wrong until Tito responded.

“Me too.  There’s no one else I’d want to spend my night talking to… I didn’t know how you felt, even after the… kiss… but Pierre, if you maybe…”

“Yes.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say,” Tito said, smiling so much his eyes crinkled a bit at the edges.

“I’d say yes to anything you asked.”

“In that case, do you wanna maybe go out… on a date?”

“I’d love to.”

“Good. Great.”

Tito smiled so much it looked like it hurt, and Pierre had a good feeling he was smiling just as much. 

\----------

     If Pierre thought not being around Tito before was hard, it was even harder once they tried to date through Facetime, calls, and whatever other form of communication they managed.  Their teams wouldn’t be playing one another until December, right before the short Christmas break.  To make matters worse, Pierre’s teammates seemed to be torn between trying to set him up or believing he had some secret girlfriend he just wasn’t telling them about.  Pierre managed to divert conversations enough, but around American Thanksgiving, he began to wish he could just tell the guys he wasn’t single.  The only thing stopping him was that he and Tito hadn’t had that conversation yet.  He was going to need to have that conversation soon, he decided one night after the Blue Jackets had won and the guys wanted to go out to celebrate.  Seth and Cam had decided to make it their mission to set him up, and Boone seemed to think it was funny to get them started every time the team went out, as if the guys would forget without his few comments.  Pierre was tired of if and told Tito so as they Facetimed.  The Islanders had lost to the Dallas Stars at home and Pierre hadn’t been sure if Tito would be in the mood to talk, but Tito surprised Pierre by calling him first that night. 

“I just can’t take them trying to set me up with girls, you know?  Even if we weren’t together, I wouldn’t be interested, but now… it’s just annoying you.  I know they mean well, but I just don’t get why they can’t just tell I’m not interested…” Pierre rambled a bit, letting his frustration out.

The entire time, Tito watched him calmly.

“Just tell them then, babe.”

That made Pierre sit up a bit more in bed.

“Really?  I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to tell anyone, not that I don’t want people to know.  It’s just… it’s gonna be hard to be out in the league…”

“I’m not saying we have to come out to everyone,” Tito said with a sigh.  “But if you wanted to tell your teammates, and maybe I’ll tell some of the guys too, then that would be alright.  I don’t wanna do anything you aren’t comfortable with, maybe we can just take it slow,” Tito suggested and gave a hesitant smile.

Pierre was kind of in awe at how calm Tito seemed to be about all this.

“This is why I love you.”

It wasn’t until he said it that Pierre realized he’d just told Tito he loved him for the first time.  It didn’t matter though, because he didn’t even have time to take it back, not that he really wanted to.

“I love you too.  I just wish I could tell you in person, baby.”

“Me too, Tito.  Me too.”

\----------

     Telling the guys seemed a little daunting to Pierre.  In theory, it should have been easy.  He could just walk into the locker room and tell the guys, yes, he was dating someone.  Yes, they were a ‘smoke show’, cause who wouldn’t think Tito was hot as hell.  Between his lips and eyes alone, he was probably the most attractive person Pierre knew.  Instead of doing that, though, Pierre just let it all out the second someone went to chirp him when he smiled at his phone to see Tito had texted him.

_Just told a few of the boys. I can’t wait to see when we’re out in Columbus_

The text had been followed by a string of happy faces and hearts.  Pierre couldn’t help but smile, and he didn’t care who saw him. 

“Damn, who’s got you giving your phone heart eyes, Dubois?  Is it that secret girlfriend of yours?”

“Nope.  No secret girlfriend here.  But it’s definitely my boyfriend.”

That seemed to get enough guys’ attentions.  A few of them looked a little shocked, mouths hanging open.  A couple guys seemed surprised, but where smiling.  Nick seemed to be smirking like he knew something the rest of the guys didn’t know, and he nodded at Pierre, as if he should continue talking.

“Uh…” Pierre wanted to tell the guys, but it felt like his mouth was filled with cotton balls.  “Um… me and Tito, I mean Anthony Beauvillier, have been dating.”

“Since when?!” Seth asked, his expression a mix of a smile and something resembling shock.

“I guess around the start of the season.”

“And you let us try to set you up this entire time?” Cam asked, seemingly a little horrified he had been trying to set Pierre up while he wasn’t even single.

“I didn’t know what to tell you guys.  Sorry.”

Nick came up and patted Pierre on the shoulder.

“Don’t apologize.  There’s no need.  The good thing is you felt you could tell us.  We’re all here for you now that we know.”

There were a few shouts of agreement and a ton of nods. 

“Well, in that case, I guess we’ll be seeing this boyfriend of yours soon,” said one of the guys.

A few guys laughed.

“Yeah, don’t worry.  We won’t go easy on the Islanders just cause of your boy.”

Pierre couldn’t even make himself be annoyed.  He just smiled through the chirps, happy to have his team’s support.

\----------

Time seemed to just breeze by like nothing.  Soon enough, the Islanders were in Columbus to play the Blue Jackets.  They had the next day off and Tito already called Pierre to say he had gotten permission to leave on the latest flight the next day to meet the team in Detroit for their next game.  Pierre tried not to think about how after this game, him and Tito would be having their first date in person.  He also tried not to think of how this would be their first game against each other as boyfriends.  He tried to ignore the rush of feelings and focus on the game.  During warmups, he caught Tito’s eyes a few times, but quickly diverted his attention elsewhere.  He really didn’t want to get distracted and do something embarrassing.  Pierre didn’t think he could deal with all the chirping that would ensue.  Instead, he focused on the game, which the Blue Jackets won 4-2.  When he walked out of the locker room, a few of the guys whistled and chirped him about having a good night, all of which Pierre just smiled at and shook his head a bit as if he was surprised.  He walked down the halls to where the visitor’s locker room was.  A few guys walked out, some glancing at Pierre and either giving him an odd look, clearly wondering why he was there, or shooting him a quick smile.  Finally, Tito walked out with Mat.  Mat gave him a smile and called out to Pierre as he walked by.

“Make sure he gets on that plane tomorrow.  You can’t keep him for good,” he laughed as Tito rolled his eyes.

Then it was just Pierre and Tito.  Pierre rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to do. 

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

They chuckled and then suddenly, Tito was pulling Pierre into a tight hug.  When he pulled back, he glanced down both directions of the hallways and once he deemed it clear, he kissed Pierre.  To say he felt sparks would be the understatement of the century, Pierre thought.  This was so much more than that drunken kiss during the summer.  He wrapped one hand around the back of Tito’s neck and the other landed on his hip.  When they finally pulled away from one another, Tito’s face was flushed, and Pierre was as out of breath as he was after a shift.  Tito placed a hand on Pierre’s face, brushing his cheek with his thumb.

“I love you.”

Pierre could feel all the blood rush to his head as he grinned.

“I love you too.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this @amaura! Happy Holidays!


End file.
